| 释义 |
ˈfoster-mother
[OE. fóster-, fóstormódor, f. foster n.1 Cf. ON. fóstrmóðir. (OE. had also féstermódor; cf. féstre = foster n.2).]
1. A woman who nurses and brings up another's child:
a. as an adoptive mother;
b. in the capacity of a nurse.
a1000Martyrol. (1894) 154 Þa cwæð þæs cnihtes fostor⁓modor to þam fæder: ᵹif [etc.]. c1205Lay. 25899 Ich wes hire uoster-moder. a1300Cursor M. 3347 Hir foster moder wit hir sco ledd. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 270. 1634 Sandys Prudence x. 127 That Childe that receiveth nutriment from his Foster Mother. a1735Arbuthnot Wks. (1751) I. 196 The young Gentleman told his Foster-Mother..that [etc.]. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 582 Maine.. was loved by Lewis with the love of a father, by Madame de Maintenon with the not less tender love of a foster mother. 1894Daily News 12 Mar. 6/5 Each home..will be in charge of a foster-father and foster-mother.
fig.1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 80 Obedience..is the nouryce or fostermother of all vertues. 1637Ld. Carey Romulus & Tarq. 201 Liberty belongs to equals, flattery to inferiours, the one is the Common-wealths Nurse, the other the Tyrants foster-mother. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. xxxiii. 129 France became the foster-mother of republicanism.
2. An apparatus for rearing chickens hatched in an incubator.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) p. xxxv/4 Foster mothers. 1911J. W. Hurst Successful Incubation 78 A cheap form of ordinary lamp should never be used, as is sometimes attempted..by makers of home-made brooders and foster-mothers. 1914Poultry 2 Jan. 1042 When my Chicks are in your Foster-Mothers I can rest comfortably at night, and so can the Chicks. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 19 Jan. Suppl. 37/3 There is still much to be said for the old foster-mother as this not only provides a brooder but a house as well. |